It’s Love the Bus Month across the United States this month, which the National Association for Pupil Transportation celebrates to emphasize the importance of school buses and how they’re an essential part of education.
The yellow school bus is an icon in communities. In Idaho, there are 90,000 students who use school buses regularly, according to the Student Transportation Department for the Idaho Department of Education. In Madison School District #321 that number is between 3,300 and 3,400, according to Brandon Caldwell, the transportation director for the district.
To bus that many students, Caldwell’s department employs 81 people, which includes drivers, aides, mechanics, shop staff and office staff. Nine of the drivers are BYU-Idaho students.
Safety checks
Drivers like Rick Evans begin their day doing safety checks on their bus around 6:30 in the morning. They make sure the bus is in good working order before they begin their designated route.
Evans and his wife, April, used to own Evans Beauty School in Rexburg. After they retired, the district approached him with an opportunity.
“They said, this is a different experience and you’re going to be a CDL driver and you’re going through training and you’re going to be doing all this other stuff,” he says. It just kind of sounded adventurous, so I did it!”
Evans says he loves driving for the district and especially loves the kids. He knows them by name.
“Your most important thing is somebody else’s most important thing, their children,” Evans says.
The state is concerned about bus safety too. In a typical year, school buses travel about 22 million miles in Idaho. In the 2023-2024 school year, there were 167 reportable accidents. Six percent of those crashes, or 10 accidents, were the drivers’ fault, according to Ali Stoltzman, who is the Idaho Department of Education’s Student Transportation director for the state.
Stoltzman started as a bus driver in Gooding after her kids were all in school. She became the director of transportation in her district and then in the region before eventually taking over at the state level. She says her experience helps her relate to current bus drivers.
“It makes it just a lot easier for us to provide that support because we can relate to what they’re going through,” Stoltzman says.
She and her team have worked hard to get safety training videos online so drivers can quickly get trained before starting their routes. They’re required to get their Commercial Driver’s License and take 10 hours of training a year, besides the training they take to become bus drivers. Those hours can be done with the new 10 online modules.
Dedicated drivers
Stoltzman says the training is just one aspect of the job of a bus driver. She says drivers are dedicated and their jobs are vital to students’ education.
“Not only are we getting them (to school) safely and reliably and on time, but those factors play into the success of that student’s education,” Stoltzman says.
Across the Gem State it can be hard to find enough bus drivers for the school year. Pocatello/Chubbuck District #25 Transportation Coordinator Kelly Dial says it’s been a struggle to find drivers since the pandemic. In 2023 the district only had one applicant. Last year, though, things started to turn around and they had 6-10 applicants. The district “got creative” to find new employees. Dial advertised on Facebook and other hiring sites. They put up banners in high traffic areas too.
District #25 has about 70 bus routes. The oldest driver for the district is 87 and “smart as a whip.” Drivers tend to stick with the job because they enjoy it so much.
“And the commitment of a bus driver is it’s more than just a job, it’s a significant act of care and dedication that deserves to be acknowledged and appreciated,” Stoltzman says.
Job openings
Most districts in eastern Idaho have openings for bus drivers. The transportation coordinator for Snake River District #52 says they “haven’t gone a month without needing a driver.” For some districts, that means they might need a substitute driver or a bus aide.
Caldwell says they get many parents to apply to drive so they can have the same days off as their kids. The full-time jobs come with benefits. Caldwell says some who are hesitant about driving a big, yellow bus, quickly learn it’s easier than they expected, once he puts them behind the wheel (safely in a parking lot).
“It’s just they’re intimidated by that initial size, but once they get a few minutes behind the wheel and we teach them how to use the mirrors and they’re like, ‘Well this isn’t near as bad as what we thought,’” Caldwell says.
If you’re interested in becoming a bus driver, you can contact your local district or check their online job board.
“I love it,” Dial says, “I've stayed here for a really long time and it's only because of that. … It's the people and if you don't get up in the morning and enjoy what you're doing, then you need to change what you're doing.”